Tag Archives: Mesner Solar Development

Nebraska Public Power District News Release

“The Scottsbluff project, and NPPD’s other Sunwise Community Solar projects, are operating well and performing as expected. The Scottsbluff project was sold out within days of our launch of the project and the community has been extremely supportive,” explained NPPD Retail General Manager Tim Arlt. “In fact, Scottsbluff has embarked on a second community solar project with the developer, SolSystems, for a significantly larger 4.6-megawatt operation.” Arlt pointed out that NPPD is in various stages of progress for community solar projects in Norfolk, Chadron, O’Neill, Ainsworth, Pawnee City, and Loup City. Read the entire news release here.

NPPD Photo: Scottsbluff’s first community solar project developed by Mesner Solar and GenPro Energy Solutions, both based in Central City, and NPPD.
NPPD’s SunWise ProgramRequest Community Solar In Your Community: If you are an NPPD customer who lives in another town or city and would like to request community solar in your community, click hereto submit the SunWise Community Solar Interest Form.

Nebraska Also in the News HereEnel Green Power, Anheuser-Busch Partner to Make Super Bowl Week ‘Super Green’, Renewable Energy Magazine. An Interview with Mark McGrail, associate vice president for energy management at Enel Green Power North America. “To date we’ve been focusing our efforts on Kansas and Oklahoma, but now we are expanding into other regions, like Texas and Nebraska and Illinois.”

First of all, thank you to our speakers: Anna Noucas, Project Development Manager at Sol Systems, based in Washington DC, and Jeff Berggren, Nebraska Program Manager for GenPro Energy Solutions, headquartered in Piedmont, South Dakota.

They provided excellent presentations on a large number of solar projects completed throughout our state and others in the development or planning stage. As their slides demonstrated, solar energy projects have increased exponentially throughout Nebraska over the past several years. Each of these projects contributes tax revenues to our local communities, benefiting our state’s overall economy, while growing jobs.

The discussion that followed their presentations generated numerous insightful questions from audience members. Thank you to all our attendees, who were mainly from Omaha and Bellevue but also included people from Lincoln, Central City, Elkhorn, Bennington and Council Bluffs.

We also wish to thank two special guests, who contributed their professional expertise to the discussion:

David Bracht, former Director of the Nebraska Energy Office, who in August 2018 rejoined the law firm Kutack Rock and whose practices include renewable energy and agribusiness.

Cliff Mesner, from Mesner Solar Development in Central City, who has completed utility scale projects in Nebraska, starting with Nebraska’s first-ever community solar project in Central City.

NFS invites all four of them back for a future panel presentation and update on our state’s growing renewable energy development.

FEBRUARY EVENT

Please mark your calendars and plan to join us again in February when our speakers will discuss a Lincoln neighborhood association’s community solar project, a first for Nebraska!

Presenters
Terry Wittler & Jeff Buhrman, Capitol Beach LLC
Michael Shonka, Solar Heat & Electric
Click here to view a Google Earth image of the solar project.A Q&A will follow their presentation. All our events are open to the public. If you belong to a neighborhood association, please share the event with other members.

The Solar Electricity Handbook is a simple, practical guide to using electric solar panels and designing and installing photovoltaic PV systems. Now in its thirteenth edition, the 2019 Edition assumes no previous knowledge of solar electric systems. The book explains how photovoltaic panels work and how they can be used. It provides a step by step guide to successfully design and install a photovoltaic solar system from scratch.

By Tony Herman, Hastings Tribune

After John Carllson put up a 40-foot by 80-foot shop last year at his home in Ayr, it just made sense to cover the south side of the roof with solar panels. His brother had erected solar panels at his home in Hordville. Carllson and his wife, Linda, were inspired. “I’d been kicking it around, and after I put the building up we talked it over,” said Carllson, who retired from working in the Hastings Utilities gas department. “I think it’s the coming thing. It’s free power from the sun.” Continue reading here.

ALSO WRITTEN BY TONY HERMANRenewable energy now key component of development, Hastings TribuneAs officials from the city of Hastings have discussed a community solar project to diversify the local energy generation profile, one of the considerations most often talked about is how renewables may enhance economic development prospects. That has certainly been the case in Omaha.